My latest read – Our Choice

Al Gore’s latest book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis should be considered by anyone interested in learning how the world can conserve resources with next generation technologies to reduce the globe’s carbon footprint.

Its easy to think this book is a political sequel to An Inconvenient Truth. That would be a mistake. The book has set off all the political rhetoric one would expect.

I found Chapter 11: Population rather interesting and worth the read alone.  Clearly we live in a world that is experiencing a sustained population boom in China and India.

This brings ultra-large scale social responsibility as well.  The impact of population on energy and food is obviously critical but the underlying issue on this still taboo subject must be moved to the forefront.

How will China and India care, feed and shelter their children?  More importantly how can green fuels be utilized in favor of coal and other cheap, outdated solutions?  There are options.

Gore has tapped into so many new technologies in Our Choice, its a bit overwhelming.  I was a bit taken back by the level of technical and engineering details and although this is a good new resource for the non-technical crowd, its a bit heavy on the engineering side.  From the the SuperGrid (Chapter 13) to Google’s real-time energy tool PowerMeter, new technology tapping the internet and mobile devices is clearly in play in our futures.

But the dramatic changes that are currently underway will surprise most readers.  If you think nuclear power is still a real option you need to consider Thorium.  It’s even hilighted in the January issue of Wired as the successor to nuclear power plants in America.

Gore has tapped the crowd to share and educate how we can help conserve our plant’s resources, help the environment and cut our carbon footprint.  All in all a good read.

Tags: Al Gore, Our Choice, Reading, Research, energy, change, education, population, India, China, green fuels, trends